Practically Classics Forum

It's a bit crusty but not too bad considering it's age

Dick wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 15, 2023 6:07 pm

It's a bit crusty but not too bad considering it's age

I've seen a lot, lot worse ... and being used on the road!!! I agree given it's age it is pretty solid. The worse two areas were the outer sills and they are in the process of being replaced.

This is what I found when I started to pull the rusty bits off .. and they didn't take much pulling. There was even a section of blue plastic sticky-backed tape covered in Isopon. That part with the round holes? The jacking point support The jacking point (a metal hoop welded to the sill) was actually missing on this side Some time later once the grinders had been at work ... I have some rust-converting to do .. Hydrate-80 at the ready! And the nice new metal being lined up and tweaked to fit ...

So those pretty new sills ...

They don't fit ..

The measurements are all over the shop compared with the original sills. Am awaiting a chat with the supplier this coming weekend. At the front there is about 1/2" gap between the edge of the sill and behind the lower a-post flange that is supposed to be spot welded to the sill, the curve is too pronounced and wider at the centre, meaning tge doors are unlikely to seal or even fit, and at the rear they are too wide and don't sit flush on the old panel edge. Good job I only cut one off!!! The nearside is the same but as I have the old intact sill in place I've been able to provide the correct measurements.

So I've moved on to the car's rear ... where we have some small areas of tin-worm. There are a few 'boxy' areas behind tge wings and some have a just strip of rubber to keep out the elements and mine had a gap or three and had gone a bit hard.

Cut out a couple of small areas of the worse rot and made up a couple of patches to fit:
I also found a couple of deepish long dents on that lower wing which were hidden under a very thick coating of 1960s era filler. They have now been pulled out with a small slide-hammer after about a total of 8 holes were drilled along their length:
On the nearside it is just a crusty area about the size of an old penny which I should be able to cut-out and patch from behind. There is also a bit of damage along the bottom of the rear panel where a valance used to be mounted. Said valance met an unfortunate end when the car got bumped and the bumper was pushed in and the valance crushed. It was removed using a bolster chisel so left a bit of an untidy mess under the filler. That will also get sorted.

I'll need to patch a couple of holes in the corner of the boot and a filler strip underneath the two patches to make good.

But we are getting there!

Well that's a pain in the seating area... I took cardboard shapes to my parts supplier, after a few days he sold me some fiesta sills to fit on a shogun... they were perfect... is your local parts guy capable of doing the same?

Not many manufacturers of these.

The ones I used are made in Holland and usually very reliable. There is another supplier in the UK but the quality of their panels in the past has been somewhat iffy.

I have a couple of options if I can persuade a couple of people to part with some new-old-stock. Or I can try to modify what I have and make them fit but that isn't straight-forward.

I managed to spend a couple of hours straightening the damage on the rear panel which looks a lot better. Needs a bit of welding where the steel has split and to patch up the torn spot-weld holes.

Last Saturday: Happily tack welding a patch into the car and ... oh, no gas sounds. The time 11:50. Time my gas supplier closes: 12:00.

So off to their yard today and 9 litre cylinder of Argon mix loaded into the boot. And the "car fund" is £50 lighter. Something that hasn't gone up though .. still same price I paid when I got the cylinder about three years ago


Update on sills:

Discussed these with my supplier yesterday and the story is the guy who makes them measured a number of different cars and used an average .. and he kept all the measurements .. seems mine is on the upper end of those measuements hence the differences. So we know why but still had to find a solution.

Swapped out the n/s for a different sill yesterday with my supplier which was closer to my measurements and offered it up today. Much better although hard to really judge until I remove the old sill. The top flanges on my old one, and the two A30s/A35s we had in the car park yesterday, are also slightly angled which would also push the sill out a bit more which again would make the fit better. The newly made sills are more of a 90 degree bend as it's probably easier to make that way. So I think we have a solution there.

The O/S was more of a problem. He bought more two new ones and neither were really much closer. Then we measured a NOS one he had which looked closer to the measurements I had taken and he offered to let me take that one to try. Which it what I did today! Bingo! Not quite a perfect fit, mainly at the rear end, but a nice tight fit under that A-post!!

Now the fun starts as NOS sills ain't common and therefore not cheap ...

Glad you got the sills sorted.. can we get a few pics

I'll have to reduce them as my normal 1mb photos are loo large for this forum.

You might be able to see some on my Club forum though .. you shouldn't need a login to view my project 'blog'

https://forum.austina30a35ownersclub.co ... =10&t=6660

gazza82 wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 27, 2024 7:57 pm

I'll have to reduce them as my normal 1mb photos are loo large for this forum.

You might be able to see some on my Club forum though .. you shouldn't need a login to view my project 'blog'

https://forum.austina30a35ownersclub.co ... =10&t=6660

Thanks, interesting read!